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The Curious Incident of the Wolfpack at Gametime

The News and Observer has a blogpost on Sidney Lowe's tempo pushing, in comparison the previous Wolfpack coach. They also point out that when forced to slow it down, the team struggles as evidenced in Saturday's trouble against Mount St. Mary's. I found the tempo comment especially interesting, since from a numbers standpoint, it's not really working:

Team                 Pace
North Carolina       76.6
Maryland             74.6
Wake Forest          73.0
Virginia             73.0
Georgia Tech         72.6
Florida St.          69.8
Clemson              68.3
Boston College       67.9
Miami FL             67.0
North Carolina St.   66.7
Virginia Tech        65.8
Duke                 64.3
(As always, Ken Pomeroy provides the stats, which are updated through Saturday.)

I admit, I don't know what to make of the folks in Raleigh. I thought they would be horrible, but a 7-2 record isn't bad for a team so undermanned. Only one of the wins is of any real quality, but giving Michigan their only loss of the year is enough for me to reevaluate the team. One thing is clear - they will never play at the tempo Lowe desires if they're only playing six people a game, and that's probably the brunt of the reason they're so far down the list. Both Engin Atsur and Pitt transfer Trevor Ferguson are supposed to suit up for the Alabama game on Wednesday, and although I don't think the Pack will win, how they play should be a good indication on how the conference season will go for them.